Electrical fuses for protecting electrical circuits are well-known in the art. Such fuses may protect large or small voltage applications. Fuses that are used to protect electrical circuits associated with motors and other large voltage electrical applications are commonly known in the art as “power fuses.”
Power fuses often include complicated indicator mechanisms to identify the state or status of the fuse. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,859,131 owned by Littelfuse, Inc., the assignee of the present patent, discloses a fuse indicator that provides a perceivable distinction between a fuse opened due to a current overload and a fuse opened due to a short circuit. The known fuse indicator includes a fuse having both a short circuit element and a current overload element coupled to, for example, an igniter wire and white gun cotton. The white gun cotton provides a state indicator before and after combusting with the igniter wire in response to electrical energy received by the short circuit or current overload element.
Furthermore, many known fuse indicators, while effective at identifying the fault state of the fuse, are often relatively complicated and/or difficult to manufacture. Thus, a need exists for a simple and efficient diagnostic fuse indicator which can be adapted for use with one or more fuse elements to identify the state or status of the fuse and a mode of failure for same.